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In musical theory, a cadence is where the music creates a sense of resolution. Specifically, a harmonic cadence is you basic progression of two (or more) chords that conclude a phrase, section, or whatever of the music.

You can also have a rhythmic cadence. A rhythmic cadence is your basic rhythmic pattern that indicates the end of a phrase. Just in case you were wondering, there.

You average guitar beginner is going to have been introduced the the 1-4-5-1 pattern which is a nice ending to a pattern of 1-4-1-5. That is the first, fourth and fifth chords of a key. So playing in A minor (Am) you would have Am, Dm, and Em. Which as you know are really easy to play.

So anyway I was trying to compose something in the key of Dm because, reasons. I found that falling back to 1-4-1-5-1-4-5-1 got kind of old.

So I reloaded and tried the same themes and patterns out in the key of Em. However, I also set myself the task of tightly using some different chord progressions.

My results were mixed but I did discover a few things.

The ♭VII–V7 cadence is sort of cool. Very 60s. Otis Redding used the ♭VII–V7 cadence for "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay". The subtonic (flat-VII) moves to dominant seventh (V7) and then you can resolve things with the root chord for the scale (the 1).

That was fun but not what I was looking for.

Then I found one from classic music which goes 6-2-5-1. Depending on how you play the ending you can resolve nothing at all and have an unremarkable phrase that just passes the tension along to the next bar.

Unremarkable is good if you are repeating your themes but want the focus to move to something mre interesting, like the drums. It's not amazing for rock style stuff but I will play with it some more and tell you if I find anything cool.

In the end I settled on 1-6-4-5, 1-6-2-5, 6-2-5-1 (which is really cool, try it some time), 1-4-6-4, 1-4-5-5, 1-4-5-1 (end with what you know).

I'm still playing about seeing how the same themes and patterns change in the different progressions. If I end up with something worth listening to I will post it.

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